Possessing the Grimstone (24 page)

Pim dashed between the Neshing, ripping open their legs with his sword. Six fell to the ground, where Drith finished each of them off with his serrated sword.

Pim looked back with a smile, proud of their teamwork, until he noticed that the Neshing were targeting him. They stalked him, circling him; they knew what he carried, and they wanted it. He ran, letting his fleet carry him through crowds of them, but at each turn, more waited.

Finally he tripped over some fiery debris, and the creatures closed in.

Shannara back-flipped through the air and landed beside the fallen Wivering. She pointed at his pack, and a green bolt of energy shot out at her. She harnessed the magical power and directed it back at the beasts.

Green lightning bolts crackled through the air, knocking some off of their feet, setting others on fire, and reducing still others to ashes.

She cast the energy through the village, clearing a path for Pim before vanishing back into the blur of carnage.

Pim looked up at her, stunned, and mouthed a thank you. Drith rushed to him and extended a hand.

Tolan turned to clash sword against axe. The Neshing swung hard, knocking Tolan’s sword out of his hand, and a kick to the gut took Tolan off his feet. The Neshing advanced, but the warrior reached for the dagger in his boot, sunk it into the creature’s belly.

He jumped to his feet, but was pulled to the ground again by ghostly claws. Stunned, he looked up at the Neshing and its familiar.

The misty white ghost that was now enslaved to the Neshing host was the spirit of his best friend, Geyess. Tolan’s heart filled with pity and anguish. The torment filling him now was worse than any blade or axe. Geyess’s spirit reached for Tolan, scratching claws across his armor.

Tolan crawled backwards, away from the abomination. Geyess shrieked as its host chased Tolan down.

He reached for anything to use as a weapon: stone, sticks, anything. Quickly, he remembered and reached into his pack for King Rasa of Norrow’s bird claw. He pulled it out, and brought it to his chest.

Geyess reached for Tolan again, and stopped. He leered at the claw, but then Tolan saw his feral face transform. Geyess’s eyes filled with sadness; his hollow, sunken features lightened. He looked down at his Neshing host and tore into its throat with its claws. The Neshing howled and died. Geyess looked up at Tolan and smiled before vanishing.

Tears welled in Tolan’s eyes. He prayed that Geyess had found peace. He leaped up, fetched the axe from the Neshing’s dead claw, and rejoined the fight.

Shannara spun over the shoulder of a Neshing, turned, and swept the legs out from under it. Its familiar swiped at her, but she ducked and plunged both blades into the Neshing’s chest.

She got to her feet and spotted her warrior overrun by three Neshing. Drith and Pim clashed with six or more, and Tolan held off two. More Neshing ran into the village. They were quickly becoming outnumbered. Shannara hesitated, but then darted to her warrior, who suddenly went down.

“No!” Shannara jumped into the air and came down with a kick, sending two of the creatures to the ground. She spun her blades, and felt an axe tear into her back. The once-fearless leader gasped for air. Blood seeped down her chin. She turned slowy, and a blade plunged through her chest. Shannara looked up to see a ghostly claw come for her, and slash across her throat.

All air was cut from her body, and she fell. Her dagblades dropped, and she stumbled. Her eyes fluttered as she fell to the ground.

Panno rushed out of hiding. He screamed and wailed over her body. Dropping to his knees, he took her dagblades in his hands and drove both into his chest.

Pim watched her fall and looked on at the horror of all the blood glistening over her ivory body. “No!” His cry echoed through the entire village and the forest. He launched his fleet and dashed to Shannara, but she was already gone. Pim’s rage magnified. He reached into his pack and grabbed the stone.It glowed green, and a circle of energy burst across the village. All of the Neshing were swept off the ground, their bodies exploded into ashes, and their familiar spirits vanished, but the magic didn’t stop there. It raged across the land, uprooting trees, blowing rubble into the farmlands, and snuffing out the last of the flames.

Pim stood frozen, his face a mask of heartbreak. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, hair dancing in the blistering wind.

“Pim! Pim!” Tolan cried. He ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “It’s over! They’re gone! Enough, Pim, enough!” Tolan shook him, and finally, he snapped out of it.

The magic dissolved, and Pim’s jaw dropped. He screamed one last time: his hands twitched, his knees buckled. “She’s gone…” he looked down on Shannara’s lifeless body. “She’s gone.”

“You saved us, Pim, you saved our mission.”

“I should have acted sooner. As soon as they attacked, I should have used the stone.”

“Shannara sacrificed herself for all of us, Pim. So you could make it back to Cardoon. We must go! We have to go now before the city falls.”

Pim looked at Shannara and her last dead husband, and nodded his farewell. He, Tolan, and Drith rushed to their horses, and raced from the village back toward Cardoon.

Chapter Seventeen

Sooth-Malesh held three spiked boulders in the air with his magic. They would have taken out the wall he stood on, and half of the fortifications.

“I can’t hold them off indefinitely!” He cried to Olani.

“You won’t have to!” She fired her crossbow.

The mage strained and grimaced as he moved the stones away from the wall before losing them completely. They fell and crushed friend and foe, alike.

Ladders slapped against the walls, and Neshing began their ascent. Olani took up a torch and began igniting the ladders. The men on the wall followed suit, and torched the ladders around them.

The Neshing forces began pushing the united kingdoms back toward the gates as they advanced across the fields. Fires followed them, and black clouds whirled across the skies. War machines rolled over Wivering bodies, and crushed Cardoon soldiers.

The battle was at its bleakest when another army entered the battle. The D’Elkyire warriors, led by Shannara’s sister, Anelle, charged from Gonnish, regrouping after leading the Wivering people to safety.

The women warriors raged into battle, dagblades and crossbows flashing in a frenzy of blood and carnage.

The Neshing divided their attack on two fronts, holding their own, dark magic battering the D’Elkyrie and blasting women into ashes.

The very land itself cried out in horror.

###

Pim, Tolan and Drith drove their horses hard across Athora, but the animals were on the verge of collapse.

“We’re not going to make it!” Pim yelled to Tolan.

“We have to, Pim! We have come all this way!”

Pim’s horse stopped and panted like mad. He refused to go on. “Come on, boy,” Pim clicked his heels. “Come on… please, don’t stop now.” He hopped off the horse.

Drith and Tolan doubled back and pulled up. Their horses panted hard, as well.

“He can’t go on,” Pim said to the others.

“No, this cannot happen,” Tolan jumped off his steed and went to Pim’s. “Come on, boy,” he rubbed the horse’s nose. “We need you to go a little further.”

A groan sounded behind them. Tolan turned to see his horse topple off its feet. “No!”

Pim sat down, his head hanging low. “It’s over. We’ve lost.”

Just then, a mysterious figure appeared out of the nothing. Pim looked up to see many robed figures: the ministers of Gwythroth.

One approached Pim. “All is not lost. We will get you to Cardoon.”

They reappeared in the center of the battlefield, armies clashing all around them. A fireball screamed down, but Pim reached into his pack and pulled out the merged stones. He held it aloft, and the fireball exploded before it could make impact.

The armies parted; the united forces of Athora made way for Pim and his companions.

The Neshing froze, eyes wide with terror. They rushed for the young Wivering.

Sooth-Malesh surged in a cloud of smoke from the top of the wall to the battlefield. He stepped to the side of the boy. “Pim, call the final piece! Now!”

Pim held the stone to the skies. “I summon you, third piece! Merge with us!”

The clouds ripped open, and a body plunged to the ground.

Tolan’s eyes jutted out. His heart slammed against his chest. “Jorrel!” he glanced down at the lifeless body of his commander. In his remaining hand, he clutched the final piece of the stone.

It worked its way out of his grip, and flew through the air. Merging with the other two pieces, the Grimstone was whole again, returned to Athora after thousands of years.

Sooth-Malesh gestured to the stone, and a bolt of green energy slithered out of it and into his arm. He lifted his other arm, and wave of dark green power blasted the entire battlefield.

The Neshing turned and ran… the wave ripped through their ranks. It blew them to ash; it crumbled their war machines, and swept them into oblivion.

The dark clouds parted. The sun fought its way through. Pim and Sooth-Malesh both trembled with terrible power. Their eyes were white orbs. Their clothes rippled, their flesh squirmed. They were united in one act, one thought.

The wave chased down every last Neshing, and every reptilian beast. It rode all the way to the East Coast, and to the beach of the Fifling Sea. It destroyed the Neshing ships, ripping them to splinters, and blowing them across the waves. It swept every mage out into the boiling sea.

The beach was stripped clean.

Back on the battlefield, Pim and Sooth-Malesh collapsed. Tolan rushed to their aid; he and Anelle of the D’Elkyrie helped them up.

Drith saw the stone dangling precariously from Pim’s grip. He rushed to seize it, but Olani stepped before him, pointing a sword at his chest.

“Go to your people,” she said. “Celebrate our victory.”

“You have changed much in my absence, Lady Olani of the North. We will be meeting again.”

She watched him leave, then joined Tolan and the others.

Pim sat and caught his breath. He shook his head, rubbing his eyes. “I feel so tired… so worn out. What happened?”

“We won Pim, we won!” Tolan cried.

Sooth-Malesh embraced Pim. He put his his hand over the stone, but did not take it from him. “Put in in your pack, young Wivering. Your mission is not yet complete.”

###

In the palace, the King rewarded everyone with praise, gold mediallions, and wreaths of fragrant flowers atop their heads. He had finally come out of his bed chambers, and out of his stupor.

“All of Athora thanks you for your service. We would not be here without you.”

The King waddled over to the table and began eating, stuffing his face with meat, and cheese, and bread.

Sooth-Malesh took Pim by the shoulders and walked him away from the banquet table. “The stone is much too powerful for any of us to keep. Already, armies are discussing how to get it. You, Pim, must take it and hide it as far away from the civilized worlds as you can go. Use your fleet and hide; tell no one where it is. No one.”

“Is it truly evil? If not, we could use it to…”

“No, one one can use it. It is neither good, nor evil, but none can control it for very long. You must hide it from all of us, and I will cast a spell of forgetfulness. All those I’ve told about its existence will forget. They will never know that it was real. Only you and I will know, Pim.”

Shannara’s sister, Anelle, came to Pim; he took her hands. “I am so sorry about your sister. She was the bravest woman I have ever known.”

“She was honored to fight along side you. I know she would thank you as I do for saving our world.”

“I did not act alone.”

“No you did not,” Tolan said, joining their sides. “But you were the one to secure each stone. Without you, we could not have even freed them. You are our hero, Pim, our savior.”

Olani walked with them now, as well. Her newfound strength gave her purpose: she would lead her people out of the ashes and into a new North.

“Sooth-Malesh held the city well,” Olani told the others.

“We all played our parts with honor,” Sooth-Malesh said. “A delicate chain to the end. May those who have fallen find peace, and know their sacrifice was not in vain.”

Drith had had enough. He slinked out of the hall and went to his guest chambers. Inside, Gyrn greeted him.

“Brother,” Drith said. “It is good to see you.”

“And you,” Gyrn walked up and embraced him. “And the stone, have you secured it yet?”

“No, I’m afraid it is too well guarded.”

“Not even a piece?”

“Fear not, there is time. By cover of night, we can…” He pulled away from Gyrn. “Brother… why do you wear my colors? I am King… why are you painted like me?”

“Because you were never expected to return, Brother. You were stronger than I had imagined. But still, very stupid.”

Drith felt pain bite into his gut. He looked down to see Gyrn holding two serrated blades inside him. His cry died in a choke of blood. He reached for his twin, but was too weak.

“I will rule the South just as well as you, no… better.” He pushed Drith to the floor, and dragged him to the window. “You will be one more victim of the battle, and when they find you, it will be my death they mourn.” He pushed Drith’s body out of the window, and to the rubble below.

“The South will find its power again.” He vacated the room. “And the North will be ours.”

With the morning sun casting shimmering curtains of sunlight in the courtyard, Tolan went to Gyrn and extended his hand before he boarded the wagon with his people.

“I know that things were, at times, tense with all us, but you were a champion in the end, and a true ally. Travel well, Drith.”

“Thank you, Warrior,” Gyrn shook his hand. “I only hope this day can live on in all Kingdoms.”

Tolan watched the painted people of the South pass through the city gates that were in the midst of repair.

Pim walked with Sooth-Malesh. They stopped at the fountain where the original group had first gathered. The mage bid Pim to remove the stone from his pack.